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Well, good morning folks. I’m Chris Lenske, and I’m the ......This webcast series addresses...
Transcript of Well, good morning folks. I’m Chris Lenske, and I’m the ......This webcast series addresses...
Well, good morning folks. I’m Chris Lenske, and I’m the grant specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Public
Instruction CTE team. Thank you for joining us for this installment of the “Strengthening CTE: Putting the Pieces
Together” series. Before we get started with today’s presentation, please mute your microphone.
As you know by now, the Strengthening CTE for the 21st Century Act (or Perkins V) requires districts and
consortia that seek Perkins funding to complete a comprehensive local needs assessment (which we refer to as
the CLNA), the results of which must be included in the Perkins grant application and will drive your program
decisions.
This webcast series addresses various requirements of the CLNA and provides technical assistance to get you
going in the right direction. Webcasts in the series are recorded and posted to the DPI Perkins V website for
viewing at your convenience. You have an opportunity to ask questions throughout this presentation through the
chat feature on your screen.
The Progress Toward Improving Access and Equity focus area of the CLNA requires you to evaluate your
progress in providing equal access to CTE programs for all students. These call on you to focus on programs
that lead to strong positive outcomes and maximize success for special populations in high-skill, high-wage, and
in-demand occupations.
In other words, are the strategies that you are using to assist students in accessing programs and overcoming
barriers to participation or success working? Are they meeting the needs that students have? What resources
are available to assist?
And, is your focus for these students on high-wage, high-skill, or in-demand industries or occupations.
Let’s take a moment to think about the students in your building. Picture them in your mind’s eye as they are
walking through the halls of your building and into your classrooms. Picture which students are actively
engaged. Now picture those who are not. Which ones appear to be disinterested in school. Can you picture who
they are? Do they belong to a certain demographic? Perhaps you’ve wondered what their story is.
Use the data tools at your disposal to learn more about these students. Bring people with challenging lived
experiences, students, parents, and support personnel to the table to learn more about what might be
contributing to gaps in participation or performance.
Based on your data, do you know which groups of learners have not yet accessed or benefited from CTE
opportunities? To what extent have stakeholders been involved in informing policies and practices related to
access and equity?
This presentation will provide focus on what to look for in your data sets, and we’ll explore how stakeholders can
provide insight to help inform equitable policies, practices, and services.
The law requires that you disaggregate your data by demographics (as Mai Choua discussed in the student
performance presentation) as well as the special populations listed here. The one population that you likely do not
have information on at this time are the students who have a parent on active duty in the armed forces, but the
others are in your data information systems. Work with your data folks on this. This does not mean that you need to
search out who each individual student is, but instead, look for data trends.
Assessing access and equity in your programs can be broken down into three subsections: access,
performance, and program delivery.
First, review disaggregated student data to determine if there are discrepancies in access or performance. Is
there over- or under-representation of certain demographics or special populations in your programs? Review
your district data not only to determine over- or under-representation of student groups in certain courses or
programs, but also their performance in those programs. Who is completing? Who is not? Who is testing
proficient in reading, science, and math, and who is not?
Related to performance – When you disaggregate your student performance data by special populations, look
at how they are doing on performance levels? Are there gaps? Are there certain students who continue to be
successful in accomplishing the goals of a class, or do you see trends of students who historically do not
complete a program or lack proficiency levels? Ask, what is that gap and why might we be seeing that gap?
Identify what can be done to address why the gap exists.
Finally, consider your program delivery through an equity lens. Look at the accommodations, modifications, and
supportive services you offer or don’t offer. Examine your curriculum, instructional practices, materials, and
assessments for biased and discriminatory content. Identify potential barriers to participation in work-based learning,
CTSOs, and articulated credit opportunities. Examine your strategies for addressing those barriers. Are they effective?
In consultation with stakeholders, develop plans to implement the strategies identified and determine measures to
evaluate your progress on those strategies. One way to deepen this analysis is by conducting focus groups, surveys, or
interviews with students from special populations, their parents, and internal or external community-based supports that
work with special populations. These activities can uncover information about needs, preferences, and perceptions of
how well programs are helping students reach their goals.
Consider who is at the table when developing equitable policies and practices. Do you have representation from those
who have lived experience as someone with challenging circumstances and can speak to it?
Perkins funds can and should be targeted for use in assisting students to not only access but also to succeed in CTE
programs.
DPI was required to do the same work at the state level. In other words engaging state-level stakeholders related to
special populations. We went to our colleagues at the DWD division of vocational rehabilitation, special education, child
welfare, and other agencies that work with special populations to learn about the barriers that certain students face. This
also gave us the opportunity to share information about CTE and let them know that special populations are a focus in
Perkins law.
Identify similarities in the students who are engaging in your programs as well as similarities in the students who are not.
You can do this by first looking at what the data tells you about enrollment in CTE courses or pathways. Who is
participating and who is not, including in dual enrollment, and technical skills attainment, such as industry-recognized
credentials.
Here are some examples of specific questions to explore with your enrollment data:
● Are there enrollment discrepancies related to high-wage, high-skill, and in-demand occupations?
● How are special population groups performing in your pathway programs?
● Are there enrollment or performance discrepancies between special populations in certain pathways or
programs of study, or related to work-based learning, industry-recognized credentials, and dual credit?
● Is enrollment of special populations in CTE proportionate to overall school enrollment?
● If you see disproportionality, there may be an access issue (whether real or perceived). What demographic
do your concentrators make up? How does that compare with your school and community?
If a particular student group is not participating, you’ll want to question why. Ask, what is the root cause? How
can we address the inequities we see and raise performance levels of students? What barriers currently exist
that prevent certain student groups from accessing programs or succeeding in programs?
In addition to numerical data, consider how students are recruited. What do promotional materials look like? How
are students encouraged to participate (or not) by counselors, teachers, or others, such as parents?
Is information on accelerated credit and credentials provided to all students? What types of work-based learning
support is available?
Barriers might include unintended biases (explicit or implicit), lack of financial resources, including relationships
with key people that can serve as supports. They are invisible, and they lack advocates or accommodations.
Deepen this analysis by conducting focus groups, surveys, or interviews with students from special populations,
their parents (if appropriate), and community-based organizations that work with special populations. These
activities can uncover information about needs, preferences, and perceptions of how well programs are helping
students reach their goals.
First, it is important to engage students. Find out what their goals and dreams are. What are their perceptions?
Why do they or do they not participate in CTE opportunities? Have them answer the question, what do you want
to get out of participation. What would you need to participate? The answer might just be, “more girls in the
class” or “I want to, but the classes conflict with my schedule,” or “I didn't think those classes were for me;
nobody told me the details about it,” or “I never had a job before and I’m afraid,” or “I’d love to learn more about
cars, but I’m in a wheelchair.” Engage these students as much as possible to learn about their interests and why
they are or are not participating in CTE.
Sometimes it’s not feasible to personally engage the students themselves, but you may want to get a broader
perspective on the supports available. That is where the stakeholders on the right side of the list can provide
insight.
Probably the most obvious groups are: special education teachers and Division of Vocational Rehabilitation counselors
or coaches. You probably have the most experience working with these individuals to provide accommodations for
students to make their experience equitable.
But what about the other students? School social workers, counselors, and nurses at the table; the English learner
school or community supports; the district homeless liaison (did you know that every district has a homeless liaison); the
district foster care liaison and the county child welfare Education Liaison are good resources to bring into the discussion.
Finally, other school or local community supports that you are aware of such as mentoring or tutoring programs, shuttle
services, and volunteer agencies can provide information. These people know who the special populations are and can
speak to road blocks, needs, and strategies to meet the needs.
Questions to ask the data and stakeholders might be:
● What accommodations, modifications, and supportive services are currently provided to ensure the success of
special population groups? Which ones are most effective? Which ones are underutilized?
● What additional accommodations, modifications and supportive services would help ensure access and equity for
all students within all programs?
● How well do teachers and other staff Identify potential barriers to equity (whether prejudicial, based on
assumptions, or otherwise) and give voice to those inequitably impacted by school and district policies and
practices.
Finally, consider your program delivery through an equity lens. Look at the accommodations, modifications, and
supportive services you offer. Examine your curriculum, instruction, materials, and assessments for biased and
discriminatory content.
With the involvement of these stakeholders, develop plans to implement the strategies identified and determine
measures to evaluate your progress on those strategies.
Consider that there is a robust system, processes, protocols and funding to ensure students special education
students get what they need. But what about the other students on the list? What exists to make programs more
equitable for them? They may also need targeted services.
Examine how you are delivering your programs, and consider creating a structure to support special
populations.
What will you provide? How will students access the support?
Determine strategies to increase access by these learner groups.
● Again, how can you actively recruit students from special populations
● Consider how students are represented in the promotional materials. Whose faces are missing?
● What can be done to provide career counseling that helps students from special populations choose a
pathway that fits their goals and strengths?
And don’t forget to celebrate successes; celebrate what you are doing well and build off of that.
In the end, the Perkins needs assessment relevant to access and equity for special populations wants you to:
● Identify the gaps and root causes for the gaps.
● Describe strategies you will use to overcome barriers that result in lower rates of access to or performance
gaps for special populations in courses and programs.
● Describe programs that are or will be designed to enable special populations to meet the local levels of
performance.
● Describe the activities that will prepare special populations for high-skill, high-wage or in-demand industry
sectors or occupations in competitive, integrated settings that will lead to self-sufficiency.
Once you’ve identified those trends, through examination of the disaggregated data, then, in consultation with
stakeholders, determine the root cause (the “why”) behind the numbers. and identify policies, procedures, and
strategies that will lead to more equitable access and success of your students. Determine what the measurable
outcomes will be. What do you expect in one year? And then in two years?
That concludes the presentation. Now let’s open it up for questions. Please submit any questions you may have
by using the chat feature.